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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1188 



came only when the laws of physical chem- 

 istry, products of the research of guileless 

 university professors, were available and 

 were applied to the problem! Who can 

 doubt that we still need the efforts of new 

 Faradays, van 't Hoffs, Roozebooms, Bertho- 

 lets, Kekules ! The question has impressed 

 me as so vital a one for the outlook for 

 chemistry in this country that as president 

 of our society I have put on the committee 

 charged with the development of relations 

 between industries and the universities pri- 

 marily university research men, with the 

 understanding that they will give to pure 

 research in our universities the benefit of 

 every doubt in their recommendations. I 

 trust that our society, as a whole, will 

 realize that it were better that our indus- 

 tries suffer somewhat temporarily than that 

 our national strength in chemistry be 

 crippled at the source. My personal opin- 

 ion is that we can attain both of our objec- 

 tives — to use a war phrase. Thus, our pres- 

 ent war duties are making university men 

 personally acquainted with numerous prac- 

 tical problems which in many cases after 

 the war, will probably form the basic ma- 

 terial for investigations of theoretical rela- 

 tions. Even if they are only in a measure 

 as successful as those of Baeyer, when 

 through the study of the structure and 

 synthesis of indigo he opened up the great 

 theoretical fields of knowledge of tautomer- 

 ism, of the theory of unsaturated com- 

 pounds and of cyclic derivatives, they will 

 advance both branches of our science, ap- 

 plied and theoretical chemistry. Efforts 

 along the lines of developing the theory of 

 the connection between molecular structure 

 and physiological or medicinal properties 

 are now taking root in a number of our uni- 

 versities. But, on the whole, I would rec- 

 ommend that technical research problems — 

 routine analytical and control work should 

 be altogether barred from our universities 

 — that technical research problems be lim- 



ited in universities to picked men interested 

 in applied chemistry and holding possibly 

 professorships or other appointments in in- 

 dustrial chemistry. In time, these men will 

 become dependent on their colleagues de- 

 voted to pure science for keeping step with 

 the progress in our science. I would urge, 

 too, the perhaps novel recommendation that 

 remuneration for such work be made a 

 departmental and not an individual affair. 

 This wise provision is being enforced in 

 those modern medical schools which de- 

 mand research work of their staffs, fees for 

 practise reverting to the university hos- 

 pitals and not to the individual. As ap- 

 plied to chemistry, such a provision would 

 be desirable, in the first place, because it 

 would to a large extent reduce the tempta- 

 tion of financial inducements for the men 

 whose talents fit them for work in pure 

 science and whom the country needs for 

 such work. In the second place, one will 

 find that the university man interested 

 in a technical problem is, after all, less use- 

 ful in a teaching department than the man 

 devoted to pure research : the pressure from 

 outside will lead him to throw a greater 

 mass of administrative detail, of instruc- 

 tion or of the care of research men, on his 

 colleagues. The result is that the depart- 

 ment and not the individual really carries 

 the burden of the problem in applied chem- 

 istry — exactly as in the medical schools, 

 which still allow their staffs to practise for 

 their own financial benefit, this is all too 

 often done with the drawbacks of ineffi- 

 cient teaching, the ignoring of administra- 

 tive responsibilities and the leaving to the 

 care of others the provisions for education 

 in research. 



I have dwelt on the details of this great 

 problem which is confronting our society, 

 because I would protect the outlook for the 

 growth and success of theoretical chemis- 

 try in our country by every means in my 

 power. "We have a splendid record: we 



